Many people have asked where the idea and the mission statement for Out of the Box Organizing (OBO) came from. Or to put it more bluntly, as one my husband’s friends said: “Why would someone need help moving? You just open a box and put the stuff away. I could have the whole place unpacked in one morning.” To which my husband’s other friend said, “Dude, you are so clueless!” (Can you tell which of these two has direct experience in moving and which one doesn’t?)

OBO’s mission is to streamline the moving process and help optimize your space. We do this by helping you efficiently unpack, sort, organize and put away your belongings while honoring your unique family needs. While we co-devise organizing systems to reflect your family’s needs, we always keep in mind that this is your space and everything we put away must work for you. This mission statement came to be when I found myself in a moving situation – perhaps similar to your current moving situation…

STARTING OUT OF THE BOX ORGANIZING

My friend used to quote John Lennon by saying, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” Two years ago when my husband and I were getting ready to move, I took my own emotional ride on the roller coaster called moving. I kept thinking how this move would be the perfect time to sort through all our old belongings, organize our new apartment, get ready for a new baby and leisurely put away our household items in a neat, easily accessible and orderly way. Moving Nirvana.

What really happened was I was due with our second child three days after our move date, our renovations weren’t quite done so we had a few walls missing, and we had exactly 15 hours to move in before our son (then three) was coming home from his grandparents’ house to see his new home for the first time.

Late that Saturday night as my husband and I were frantically shoving dishes onto kitchen shelves, throwing toys into toy boxes and trying to find the one box that had our son’s blue and yellow silky (the one to this day he refuses to sleep without), it occurred to me that what I really needed at this precise moment was a moving partner.

I needed someone who could efficiently and patiently help me unpack and put away my things in a non-judgmental way, making suggestions on ways to organize and optimize my new living space to help ease the stressors associated with such a big life transition, while at the same time respecting my lifestyle.

Fast forward two years. I am standing in my mother-in-law’s new kitchen surrounded by moving boxes. She, too, had visions of having the time and opportunity to peacefully sort through old belongings, find ideal locations for appliances and dishes and make her new dream kitchen into an organized and welcoming space where her family could gather.

Life happened to her, too, as she was making other plans. Her construction was delayed, the move date was pushed back and she was suddenly scheduled for major surgery in only a few days.

I decided that the best way to help my mother-in-law (who is like a second mother to me) was for me to become the moving helper that I desperately needed during my own overwhelming move.

I helped her order containers and drawer dividers. Then I set to work assisting her unpack, sort, organize and put away her belongings in ways that honored her lifestyle and would ease the stress of this major life transition. Although there were many times I would have put things in different places and thrown away a whole lot more if it were my kitchen, I kept my mantra: “This is her kitchen, her house, her space and everything we put away must work for her.”

So in addition to helping her unpack, I also helped her think in new ways about her new living space; that is, what worked and did not work for her in her old space. I offered her suggestions on places to put things, organize items, store sentimental things she wanted to keep but no longer used. I did not blink when she insisted on keeping every single mug her children and grandchildren have ever made her and her husband over the past 35 years. Instead, I offered ways to make them all fit without cluttering her space. As I learned during my own move and helping others move, when you are the one moving, it is very hard to do this process for yourself.

By the end of the day with my mother-in-law, we had finished most of her kitchen, and I am happy to say since that day she has changed very little from our original unpacking. I stood there in her beautiful unpacked and organized kitchen and thought: we can’t be the only two people who have felt overwhelmed with a move. We can’t be the only two people who did not want a group of hurried movers quickly unpacking for us and tossing our things on any old shelf before they hurried off to the next job. We can’t be the only two people who would benefit from a knowledgeable, friendly, enthusiastic, unbiased, sympathetic, and patient organizer to assist with the moving process.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG…

This is how Out of the Box Organizing got started. After volunteering to help friends and family move and also interviewing them on ways to ease the stressors of moving and life transitions, our mission was formed.